Well, well, well, lets' see how far I get this time without getting distracted by IM's, November board postings, or other online distractions. Or a baby. Those can be a tad distracting too.
How've we all been? Of the half dozen or so people who I know actually read this once in a while, I've spoken to 2 or 3 recently and I'm happy to hear they're doing decently well. The rest of you better buck up and do at least decently :-) I'm just pleased with myself for actually keeping moderately in touch with a few people I knew B. B. (before baby), B. C. (before career), and B. C. (before college). Love all around.
Can you tell I'm in a good mood?
Reason being that Bob's "sick" today and we're spending the day hunkered down in our toasty house in our toasty robes, PJ's and slippers (Bob would probably like me to interject on his behalf here and inform you that he does NOT wear slippers. And I would interject that that's because they don't make slippers for flippers that big.) Bob finished his school work around 3, and then we ate lunch - leftover grilled salmon and quesadillas, the lunch of champions! And now he's on 'baby duty' which right now involves laying on the floor and dangling toys, marching a stuffed horse up and down Maddie's body, and attempting to convince Her Sensitiveness to sit in the Bumbo seat. I'm doing laundry and for-the-love-of-God-I'm-actually-going-to-sit-down-and-Blog-so-I-can-stop-saying-"GeeIwishIhadmoretimetoBlog". With a cup of Red Rose tea in my A+ Teacher mug. Life is good.
Let's see, what have we been up to? Well, I finally took Maddie in to meet the school crew; both students and colleagues. So enjoyable. The big fat hugs and snotty-nosed inquiries as to when in the world I'd finally come back to them (March 28th) were good for the self-esteem, for sure. Those were from the kidlets, by the way. :-) The teachers fawned of my kid - which is also good the aforementioned self image - and dished the dirt...including that they think my sub is "competent but snobby and anti-social. "Has a 2X4 up her ass" was the exact wording from a closer friend, but you get the drift. My program is being maintained but I'm in no danger of being replaced...and she's in no danger of being missed when I'm back. How bad am I that I think I couldn't have asked for more from a long-term sub?
I finally have to get my blood sugar tested this week (or next, if my in-laws don't stop bringing junk food over here and leaving it!). I'll find out if I'm officially diabetic at present or not. The Gestational Diabetes can leave you diabetic permanently, or cause you to develop it in 5 to 10 years...or you could be fine. We'll see. So far, so good, though. My morning checks have been good: all under 126, the apparent magic number.
I'm still running all around town and finding excuses for socialization here and there. Mom's Club, which is actually an International thing, I found out, has been fun. Now that my baby's past the 2-month mark where it's socially and motheringly acceptable to take her out and have her around other kids (oops, broke that rule) it's not so, well, awkward to be out w/ other mommies doing our thang. I highly recommend the playroom at Burger King in Stratford, NJ, btw. They have big comfy seats for parents to see their kids from and an Internet Cafe...and decent coffee.
Ah, coffee, my old friend, how I've missed you. That's right, I readily fell off the wagon and onto Juan Valdez when I stopped giving Maddie breast milk. Although she's probably predisposed to caffeine addiction anyway.
We're getting a bit of a routine down at home - sort of. I'm not ever going to be one of those parents who schedule their baby to eat at exact 4-hour increments with 1 1/2 naps and highly structured playtime. Please, I can't keep myself on a schedule like that, I'm going to do that to my kid? Whatever. But we follow a pretty predictable pattern of eat/play/downtime (swing, bouncy seat & 'Baby Mozart', hanging out in crib talkin' to the whatever-those-things-are on her mobile)/naptime, repeat. Gives me time to do things like shower, dress, keep the house in some semblance or order and clean enough not to attract the attention of the Division of Youth & Family Services, etc. And I actually get to touch the laptop during the day, too. For instance, right now Maddie's really grooving on the up-close shot of one of those "tornado in a jar" things you buy at science stores in the mall.
Speaking of the mall, I gotta go pick up her first 'formal' portraits tomorrow at Sears, and then get frames for the ones we're giving to Bob's mom for her 50th birthday...and then I want to hit Babies-R-Us next door, for a shower gift for his cousin and hopefully a mommy-baby exercise DVD. I'd been pretty faithful about taking Maddie for longer and longer walks in the stroller until the weather decided to take a nose dive. You're not supposed to have a baby outside for extended periods when the wind chill's under freezing. Stupid weather. Messing up the one form of exercise I was actually enjoying. Poop.
Holy crap it's already 5;21! Well, we decided that we're going NOWHERE today, so that prolongs the evening nicely. Usually on Monday nights we have Handbell rehearsal, but we just had a performance yesterday so the director - that would be Bob - gave us the night off. B-e-a-utiful.
Ok, how sad is it that I actually just sat and watched a whole segment of the Baby Mozart video by myself and was actually quite entertained? (Maddie spit up and Bob took her upstairs to change her clothes.) She's spitting up a lot lately...hmmm. She cries when she eats sometimes, and you have to play the white noise really loud for her - then she'll eat happy as a clam. Weird kid.
Well, the dryer buzzer has, uh, buzzed. Actually it beeped, we have a beeping dryer now. So it's that time. Time to spell check and hope it picks up the worst of my typos, and do the laundry. And live to blog another day.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
January 15th - 80/20
I think I'm Jekyll/Hyde-ing it here.
I have 80/20 moods. No no, hear me out, this may be you some day (or this may have been you at once point, in which case you can look down on me as a that poor confused new mom/crazy person). Or you may never do all this fabulous reproducing stuff, in which case: happy condoms to you, enjoy your nights of perpetually undisturbed sleep.
20: I get to go back to school WHEN, exactly? I'm growing weary of daytime TV (I leave Lifetime sitcoms on all morning, perhaps some comedy central or a DVD I got OF a sitcom on most of the afternoon. I actually watch about a fifth of it, I'd say, and leave it on for noise/company when we're not Baby Mozarting or having some other music). At least the Daily Show is on at 2:00. I take walks, I like going to Target/Wal-Mart only so much (although the discovery of the sling is making it much less anxiety-ridden). I miss people. I miss Bob most of all. Summer has me programmed to think "I'm home, he should be too." I miss having adult conversations. I miss having friends to have "you won't believe what this kid/parent/idiot did/said/sent in a memo from Admin." conversations with. I miss eating lunch with other people besides the cast of Will & Grace. My feet hurt - my joints are still achey from pregnancy hormones, the OB tells me. I will never get used to getting up in the middle of the night, and I've yet to get a good night's sleep without the help of Tylenol PM or Benadryl, whether I'm on baby duty or not. I feel sad sometimes - but sad that I'm not blissfully happy all the time, because what kind of horrible, selfish woman wouldn't be ecstatic to be out of her job for 5 months and home with her baby for 4 of them? Guilt makes the world go round in mommyville.
80: I so love my life. Maddie is the cutest, sweetest, laughiest, smiliest, most entertaining thing ever and I thank my lucky stars every day that we were able to have a glorious healthy baby so relatively easily and that I have 4 lovely months to stay home and be here for all the 'firsts' she'll have, and have playtime and music time and tummy time every day. Sometimes I scoop my sweet, sleeping baby up for no reason at all, knowing full well I should take advantage of her having dozed off to get the dishes done or attempt a nap, and I hold and cuddle and just breathe her all in. Sometimes when I rock her to sleep, through my fuzzy contacts I get teary just seeing how much she's grown that day alone. Sometimes I sit and gaze at her for a half hour at a time, sleeping or awake, because when something's that beautiful, you just don't look away that easily. You lap up every moment of it, because tomorrow she'll be eating solids and wearing sneakers and going to Kindergarten. I really think everybody should have a child, because it's indescirbably heavenly. Everyone deserves this beyond-happiness, the way everyone deserves air and water. Even the 3am poopy diapers are a celebration of the life that you made. Look, she works! She smiles, she laughs, she poops, and she's mine!
I have 80/20 moods. No no, hear me out, this may be you some day (or this may have been you at once point, in which case you can look down on me as a that poor confused new mom/crazy person). Or you may never do all this fabulous reproducing stuff, in which case: happy condoms to you, enjoy your nights of perpetually undisturbed sleep.
20: I get to go back to school WHEN, exactly? I'm growing weary of daytime TV (I leave Lifetime sitcoms on all morning, perhaps some comedy central or a DVD I got OF a sitcom on most of the afternoon. I actually watch about a fifth of it, I'd say, and leave it on for noise/company when we're not Baby Mozarting or having some other music). At least the Daily Show is on at 2:00. I take walks, I like going to Target/Wal-Mart only so much (although the discovery of the sling is making it much less anxiety-ridden). I miss people. I miss Bob most of all. Summer has me programmed to think "I'm home, he should be too." I miss having adult conversations. I miss having friends to have "you won't believe what this kid/parent/idiot did/said/sent in a memo from Admin." conversations with. I miss eating lunch with other people besides the cast of Will & Grace. My feet hurt - my joints are still achey from pregnancy hormones, the OB tells me. I will never get used to getting up in the middle of the night, and I've yet to get a good night's sleep without the help of Tylenol PM or Benadryl, whether I'm on baby duty or not. I feel sad sometimes - but sad that I'm not blissfully happy all the time, because what kind of horrible, selfish woman wouldn't be ecstatic to be out of her job for 5 months and home with her baby for 4 of them? Guilt makes the world go round in mommyville.
80: I so love my life. Maddie is the cutest, sweetest, laughiest, smiliest, most entertaining thing ever and I thank my lucky stars every day that we were able to have a glorious healthy baby so relatively easily and that I have 4 lovely months to stay home and be here for all the 'firsts' she'll have, and have playtime and music time and tummy time every day. Sometimes I scoop my sweet, sleeping baby up for no reason at all, knowing full well I should take advantage of her having dozed off to get the dishes done or attempt a nap, and I hold and cuddle and just breathe her all in. Sometimes when I rock her to sleep, through my fuzzy contacts I get teary just seeing how much she's grown that day alone. Sometimes I sit and gaze at her for a half hour at a time, sleeping or awake, because when something's that beautiful, you just don't look away that easily. You lap up every moment of it, because tomorrow she'll be eating solids and wearing sneakers and going to Kindergarten. I really think everybody should have a child, because it's indescirbably heavenly. Everyone deserves this beyond-happiness, the way everyone deserves air and water. Even the 3am poopy diapers are a celebration of the life that you made. Look, she works! She smiles, she laughs, she poops, and she's mine!
January 15th - Indulge in some cuteness, why doncha?
Never linked to the album before, but I'M endlessly entertained by pictures of my kid, so why wouldn't the rest of the world be???
(All new parents go through this phase. Let me be.)
There's TONS on there (not like we started taking pictures at week 7 or something. Lord no.) Enjoy.
You can hit the whole collection HERE. Photo-licious.
And here's our kiddo having swingtime. "Talkin' to the birdies" we call it. She loves those guys on the swing's mobile. I hate to have to break it to her that they're not going to talk back...
(All new parents go through this phase. Let me be.)
There's TONS on there (not like we started taking pictures at week 7 or something. Lord no.) Enjoy.
You can hit the whole collection HERE. Photo-licious.
And here's our kiddo having swingtime. "Talkin' to the birdies" we call it. She loves those guys on the swing's mobile. I hate to have to break it to her that they're not going to talk back...
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
January 10th - Making strides
So yeah, life is good. Much better, for sure. We're getting the hang on the whole baby-in-your-life thing, and the days when we have something close to a "normal" life (albeit a life that includes constant travel with a back-breaking Graco travel system baby carrier and one mother of a diaper bag) is somewhere in the visible future. Not there yet, though. Just ask the shoppers at the Deptford Ross today. Dang, my kid's got lungs.
She sleeps longer at night, she takes naps (some long, some not long enough), and she's often very happy gazing at the ugly but fascinating Symphony-In-Motion mobile. Bought it recently. Giant spinning black and white swirls, google-eyed farm critters bathed in fuchsia, orange, and lime green spots, and these neato plush beads that slide as it turns. It doesn't match the gorgeous nursery, but it lets mommy get important things done, like dishes and laundry and personal hygiene.
Well, the important thing is that much more is well. I still get stir crazy, restless, and downright ready to claw my way out the door come hell or high water, but I'm at least happy while I'm home, and enjoying Maddie more than ever. She's MUCH more fun now, anyway. Laughs and 'talks' and doesn't cry near as bad or as much when we put her in the carseat and attempt to actually drive somewhere. I feel bad, because as much as I read that you should never attempt to put a new baby on a schedule because it just won't happen, that's exactly what I want to do. I'm a scheduler, I like to know what my life is going to look like, day to day. Oh well. I'll try.
I also like to be able to put my feet up on the couch and actually blog. My poor husband hasn't had time to - although he throws himself into other projects instead. Like right now, he's programing his new Logitech universal remote.
See, you can tell I'm doing better, I even have time to insert pictures into my blog entry. Cool.
My proudest accomplishment is actually having consistenly walked a lot lately. I actually walk all the way to my town's Wawa. Bob and I are on a budget, and I can't go dropping a couple of bucks every day at the Wa. I dig into spare change and a few extra bucks that go unaccounted for and buy a coffee and a cowtail when I get there - mapped out a good walking route and everything. Thank God for my somewhat all-terain stroller. Have to cut through a vacant lot, or the walk would be too long. Got caught in the rain last time and everything. I'm thinking of putting Maddie in the carrier, all bundled up, and walking like that sometimes too. There's this whole worrysome deal about the 'containerization of babies', how they're always buckled into something - stroller, swing, carrier, bouncy seat. And carriers and slings, that keep the little kiddos close and person with you, those are supposed to be better. For your baby, not your back.
Well, time to attempt to sleep a few hours before the next feeding. I predict...3 AM. Cross fingers for me that she'll sleep REEEAAAALY well. Like, 12 hours straight would be good.
She sleeps longer at night, she takes naps (some long, some not long enough), and she's often very happy gazing at the ugly but fascinating Symphony-In-Motion mobile. Bought it recently. Giant spinning black and white swirls, google-eyed farm critters bathed in fuchsia, orange, and lime green spots, and these neato plush beads that slide as it turns. It doesn't match the gorgeous nursery, but it lets mommy get important things done, like dishes and laundry and personal hygiene.
Well, the important thing is that much more is well. I still get stir crazy, restless, and downright ready to claw my way out the door come hell or high water, but I'm at least happy while I'm home, and enjoying Maddie more than ever. She's MUCH more fun now, anyway. Laughs and 'talks' and doesn't cry near as bad or as much when we put her in the carseat and attempt to actually drive somewhere. I feel bad, because as much as I read that you should never attempt to put a new baby on a schedule because it just won't happen, that's exactly what I want to do. I'm a scheduler, I like to know what my life is going to look like, day to day. Oh well. I'll try.
I also like to be able to put my feet up on the couch and actually blog. My poor husband hasn't had time to - although he throws himself into other projects instead. Like right now, he's programing his new Logitech universal remote.
See, you can tell I'm doing better, I even have time to insert pictures into my blog entry. Cool.My proudest accomplishment is actually having consistenly walked a lot lately. I actually walk all the way to my town's Wawa. Bob and I are on a budget, and I can't go dropping a couple of bucks every day at the Wa. I dig into spare change and a few extra bucks that go unaccounted for and buy a coffee and a cowtail when I get there - mapped out a good walking route and everything. Thank God for my somewhat all-terain stroller. Have to cut through a vacant lot, or the walk would be too long. Got caught in the rain last time and everything. I'm thinking of putting Maddie in the carrier, all bundled up, and walking like that sometimes too. There's this whole worrysome deal about the 'containerization of babies', how they're always buckled into something - stroller, swing, carrier, bouncy seat. And carriers and slings, that keep the little kiddos close and person with you, those are supposed to be better. For your baby, not your back.
Well, time to attempt to sleep a few hours before the next feeding. I predict...3 AM. Cross fingers for me that she'll sleep REEEAAAALY well. Like, 12 hours straight would be good.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
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